Fishing trip
by OnePirateWolf96
Summary: Little Shulk ,Fiora and Reyn go on their first fishing trip in Colony 9, making it a competition of who can get the biggest fish.


**So… here's that story I promised like, a year ago. Um… Better late than never...? Right? Anyway, here it is, hope you like it, and please review and let me know what you think.**

Fishing trip

" _Dunban_! Where's our fishing stuff?" Dunban was woken early in the morning by his very enthusiastic little sister Fiora, who was running around the house, searching for the "fishing stuff" while the more quiet and reserved Shulk was going through some cabinets to find who-knows-what that they were planning on needing on their little fishing-trip.

"Did you check storage?" he asked, while slowly getting out of bed, since he might as well get up when the kids had been up for at least half an hour, even though it was just over five in the morning.

"Yeah, but there was just some furniture and weapons there," Fiora informed him, while checking under the kitchen table for probably the third time.

"Did you check behind the furniture and weapons in the storage?" he had to ask, because she probably hadn't had the patience to move things and then move them back.

"Noo…" she admitted, predictably, and went of to presumably check the storage again.

Now Dunban had a good chance to see what Shulk was doing. Once he got down to the kitchen, he quickly found out the answer was sandwiches.

"How's it going?" he asked the young boy, who looked up at him with large, blue eyes for just a moment, before focusing back on the sandwiches. He had a small pile of maybe a dozen or so of them, and the ingredients were all over the table.

"Some snacks for the trip," he answered quietly. "Fiora thought we should bring something to eat, since we're not really hungry now, but might get later on. It's also nice to have something to eat when going on a trip" He looked at Dunban shyly. "I don't really know how to make anything edible, but Fiora said she'd make them if I just got all the ingredients."

"I found the stuff!" Fiora announced from the storage, where she had pulled out everything in there in order to reach the fishing equipment in the back. "Now we'll just have to get those sandwiches done and find some worms or something to use as bait!" She brought all the things she had found to the kitchen and dumped them in the middle of the floor, before heading to the table and starting on the sandwiches. She had obviously done it before, wasting no time and getting them done in no time. "But Reyn'll have to help us with that" she declared after a few seconds "Because he'll have to help with something, too."

"Where are you meeting Reyn, anyway?" Dunban couldn't help being curious, since the kids hadn't really told him a whole lot beyond declaring they're going on a fishing trip with their new friend.

"At the main entrance to the colony," Shulk informed him. "We're meeting at five thirty, because we have better luck of catching fish early in the morning than during the day."

"And we're ready to leave," Fiora declared, holding up a small bag she had shoved all the sandwiches in. "As soon as we - "

"As soon as you've cleaned up after yourselves" Dunban interrupted. "Fiora, put the stuff you don't need back in the storage. And Shulk, the kitchen. Now," he added when Fiora looked like she was about to protest. They both went to their respective places to clean up after themselves as quickly as they could.

"Hey, Shulk?" Dunban couldn't help striking a small conversation with the blond in order to find out more about him. "You ever been fishing before?"

The boy paused slightly to think, before returning to cleaning the counter. "Yes, once." He could faintly remember sitting at a small lake with a small fishing rod, excitedly staring into the water to see if any fish would take the bait. Only he couldn't remember if it was with his parents when he was younger, or with Dickson, on their way to Colony 9 after he was found by the older man.

After some ten minutes, everything in the kitchen was cleaned up, the sandwiches packed, and everything pulled out of the storage was hastily thrown back in, Fiora and Shulk were finally ready to leave for their fishing-trip. Dunban was making sure they had everything they needed and that they knew to stay safe.

"Make sure to not go too far, don't bother the wildlife and don't get lost, okay?" he reminded them as they were leaving, the last one especially for Fiora.

"Yeah, yeah, we'll be fine," Fiora was telling him impatiently, anxious to get going already. "We'll even bring some fish for dinner, and you'll make bad-tasting food from it."

"Why don't you cook something if you think it's so easy," Dunban called back at her.

"Maybe I will," Fiora answered happily, before grabbing Shulk, turning around and leaving.

Fiora and Shulk hurried to the main entrance, eager to meet with Reyn to finally get going. When they arrived, Reyn had not yet arrived.

"Why's he so late!" Fiora was not happy over the fact they had to wait for the redhead, delaying their trip even further. It was going to be a warm day, and the air was already starting to heat up, which resulted in the two already being somewhat sweaty after carrying the equipment.

"Maybe he overslept?" Shulk suggested. "He didn't seem too eager to get up so early in the morning."

"But he was eager to catch the biggest fish in the sea," Fiora pointed out, looking around to see if she could spot Reyn somewhere. "So, he shouldn't be complaining."

They waited for a few more minutes, keeping watch to see if they could spot Reyn anywhere. Soon Shulk spotted a mop of red hair heading their way, carrying a long fishing rod and a large bucket.

"There he is," he informed Fiora, who was looking in the opposite direction.

"About time," she told Reyn when he finally reached them. "You're late." And she was not happy about it, never mind they were only little over five minutes behind their "schedule".

"Sorry 'bout that" Reyn mumbled, clearly still half asleep. "Why'd we have to get up so early, anyway?"

"Because the best time to fish is early morning," Shulk quickly explained, since Fiora really didn't seem like she would stand still and quiet for very long.

"All right, let's get going," Fiora declared, already marching toward the exit of the colony, Shulk and Reyn following closely.

The first place the trio headed for was the cliffside right beneath the main entrance, where they would be able to find some worms other insects to use as bait. Each of them was convinced of what would make the best bait and how they were going to catch the biggest fish.

"I'm just gonna use the biggest worms I can find, so I can get the biggest fish," Reyn declared, digging in the dirt to find said big worms.

"I want to try different kinds of bait to see which ones draw in what kinds of fish," Shulk piped up from where he was hunting grasshoppers in the grass a few feet away. He was putting them in a small box he was carrying around, and he had already caught a small number of different insects, in addition to some worms in case the other stuff didn't work out so well.

"Boys..." Fiora muttered to herself. "We used to go fishing with mum and dad and we always got good fish, so I'm just going to use worms like we used to. I'll definitely get the biggest fish." The memories of having fun with mum and dad made her feel a bit sad, but it also felt good to be able to make new memories with her new friends.

Once they all had their bait, the trio made their way further underneath the colony, until they reached the small, rocky cove, where they would be fishing. The place was a nice fishing spot, quiet and peaceful and a little darker than elsewhere, making the fish more comfortable there and thus easier to catch. They quickly unpacked their things, and started to prepare their fishing rods.

"You okay there, Reyn?" Fiora asked the redhead, who was struggling to get a worm onto the hook, but not managing to make it stay, due to the worm being much too large.

"Yeah, I'm fi- Ouch!" he had managed to prick himself with the hook and dropped both it and the worm on the rocks.

"I think you would manage better if you used a smaller worm," Shulk, a small grasshopper on his own hook, informed him quietly from a few feet away.

"Yeah, yeah, didn't ask for your help," Reyn answered him impatiently, but did sneak a small worm from Shulk's box and managed to easily put it on the hook. "Let's get some fish!" he announced enthusiastically, already tossing his rod in the water. Fiora and Shulk soon joined him, and the three of them sat in silence for a little while.

"Oh, I got something!" Reyn suddenly yelled after some ten minutes of silence. This also got the attention of his friends, who hadn't yet gotten anything. Fiora was still using her worm and Shulk was on his third grasshopper (the first two had been stealthily taken.) "I hope it's something big and awesome," he prayed as he was pulling on his fishing rod. He gave it one big tug, pulling the fish out of the water, revealing… a small perch.

"So much for big and awesome," Fiora commented as Reyn put the fish in his bucket without a word.

"Well, at least I got a fish," Reyn answered, "and the next one will definitely be bigger," he added confidently.

"Or smaller," Shulk piped in, a notebook open on his lap, comparing two small dragonflies to determine which one to use next (the grasshopper having not worked at all)

"No one asked you!" Reyn snapped at him. "Besides, you don't got any fish either!" Shulk just shrugged at him, going back to his experiments. Fiora just rolled her eyes at the both of them.

A few moments later Reyn got another fish on the hook, as if to prove his words. "Please be a bigger one, please be a bigger one…" he kept chanting as he reeled it in. On the hook was another perch, about two inches bigger than the last one. In other words, still fairly small, but Reyn held it up to Fiora and Shulk with a big grin. "Told you the next would be bigger," he declared victoriously.

"It is bigger than the last one," Fiora agreed. "but still not much to eat," she decided after looking at it for a few more seconds. "You'll need like, ten more of that size if it's supposed to be lunch or dinner."

"I'll get ten more, easily," Reyn promised immediately.

"We'll see..." Fiora sounded somewhat doubtful as she turned back to her own fishing. Silence settled over them again.

After fifteen minutes or so, they decided to eat some breakfast. Luckily Fiora had packed enough for all three of them, although just barely.

"Thanks, Fiora, that was really good." Reyn couldn't stop praising her snacks, and ate almost half of them himself, despite Fiora trying to stop him. Shulk mostly ate in silence and observed their squabbling, while trying to subtly get rid of most of the vegetables, not wanting to insult Fiora. She could be scary if she got angry and he didn't want to make her sad by making her think he didn't like her food.

"What do you think, Shulk?" Fiora suddenly asked him, apparently having gotten tired of arguing with Reyn and didn't even try to stop him from gobbling up the last sandwiches.

"It's really good," he smiled at her, making her beam with happiness.

"Well, let's get some more fish!" Reyn was full of energy again, and ready to go get some more fishing done.

"I got something!" Was heard after about ten more minutes, only this time it was Shulk, not Reyn, who got something hooked.

"Come on, let's see!" Fiora encouraged him enthusiastically as he pulled in the fish. It turned out to be a gibel carp. Not a very big one, but bigger than Reyn's bigger perch. "Nice, some variety," she congratulated him as he put the fish in his bucket.

"Yeah," Shulk agreed, already preparing another bait, only to stop to think about something. Suddenly he got up, went to where they had put the rest of their stuff, and pulled out a couple of extra fishing hooks and fishing line, and started doing some experimenting with them. After a few moments, the others were getting curious as well.

"What're you doin' there, Shulk?" Reyn asked, trying to peek over his shoulder to see better. "Just trying something…" Shulk trailed of for a few moments to focus, before continuing.

"If you can get one fish with one hook, maybe you can get three fish with three hooks," he finished, showing he had simply attached two more hooks to his fishing line.

"I'm not so sure about that," Fiora admitted, while Reyn was far more enthusiastic.

"All right, let's get some fish!" he exclaimed, rummaging through Shulk's insects to find a good bait for himself.

"We'll see," Shulk said thoughtfully, not really 100% sure his idea would work. He put some small worms on each of the hooks and put it in the water and waited.

Some fifteen minutes later Shulk caught something. When he pulled up the fish, there were actually three, one on each hook. He had gotten two herrings and one goby.

"Yes, it works," he exclaimed, happy to see his idea actually worked. Reyn and Fiora looked over to see.

"Hey, that's awesome!" Reyn was excited about Shulk's success. "I wanna try too!"

"Sorry, Reyn, but we don't have any more hooks," Shulk admitted. "But maybe next time," he tried to cheer Reyn up when he looked rather sad at the admission.

"It's a promise," Reyn agreed, though still not really happy about it.

Fifteen minutes later, Shulk had caught another two gobies and one herring. After that, however, the two other hooks he had attached came loose, proving it was not such a great plan after all. After he continued with just one hook, he still got a small trout.

Meanwhile Reyn had managed to get eight more perches, mostly the same size as the two others, asides from one, which was only just over an inch and a half.

Fiora, on the other hand, still hadn't gotten anything, and was starting to get frustrated.

"Why aren't I getting any fish at all!" she growled, just restraining herself enough to not yell and scare away all the fish.

"Maybe you're not so good at fishing as you thought," Reyn casually noted, not even turning to look at her.

"Maybe you need to try some other kind of bait," Shulk suggested, being more helpful than Reyn, but also completely absorbed in his own fishing.

"Maybe…" she thought quietly to herself, turning her attention to their equipment, trying to come up with something. A few moments later she put a new bait on the hook and tossed it back in the water with new confidence. "Now I'll definitely get something," she thought to herself.

Indeed, just a few minutes later, she got something on the hook. Something strong enough to almost pull her in the water. "Shulk! Reyn! Help!" she managed to yell while holding on to the fishing rod with all her strength.

The two guys grabbed her, or rather, Shulk grabbing her and Reyn grabbing them both, and together pulled on the fishing rod, using all their strength to pull in the strong fish. After quite some struggling and the line almost snapping, they managed to pull up a huge salmon to shore.

"That's a really big fish," Reyn seemed very surprised and also a bit jealous, looking at his own small catches.

"Told you I'd get the biggest fish," Fiora smiled triumphantly. She was trying to shove the fish down into her bucket, but only getting about half of it to fit. She just shrugged and decided it was good enough. "Now we have something to eat for sure."

"Yeah," Shulk looked at the salmon in awe. "I know I said to use different bait, but I didn't think it would work that well." He looked at her curiously. "What did you use?"

"I used that tiny perch Reyn caught and almost threw away," she grinned at their baffled faces. "Because big fish eat small fish, so if I used a small fish as bait I would get a bigger fish."

"That was really smart, Fiora. I hadn't thought about that," Shulk praised her, making her blush.

"Come on, let's go back home," she said, recovering quickly. "Let's see what we can make with these things," she mused, looking at all the fish they had caught.

"Yeah, awesome!" Reyn agreed enthusiastically, already on his way with his catch and stuff. "This fishing business was making me hungry!"

"I'm a little hungry as well," Shulk admitted, gathering his things before turning to Fiora, who was struggling a bit with the salmon. "Let me help you with that," he offered, grabbing the handle of the bucket to help her carry it.

"Thanks, Shulk," Fiora replied gratefully.

The trio arrived to the Colony triumphant, with their catch of fish and their first day together just starting.

 **A/N: So, some things I want to get out here.**

 **I'm no fishing expert or any fish expert, so if I'm wrong about something, feel free to tell me. I just seem to remember the best time to go fishing is in the morning or in the evening.**

 **I based this partially on one line from a heart-to-heart, where Fiora mentions she, Shulk and Reyn went fishing once when they were kids, and she caught the biggest fish. Because I didn't want to neglect the guys, I had Reyn catch the most fish (10), Shulk caught the most different kinds of fish (8 fish, 4 kinds), and Fiora only got one, but it was by far the biggest.**

 **Also, if anyone thinks it's too dangerous for little kids to go fishing by themselves and Dunban wouldn't allow it, I have some reasons why that's not quite true.**

 **First, Dunban is like, 17-18 at this time (kids being 5-6) and he has said he used to be somewhat reckless when a that age.**

 **Second, it's stated in a heart-to-heart that Dunban and Fiora used to play hide and seek outside the colony, between the entrance and Tephra hill. So he has no problems letting his sister be by herself outside the colony, at least for a little while. Especially when she has Shulk and Reyn with her.**

 **Third, during the daytime, there are no aggressive monsters (vision-type, sound-type) right nearby the town, most of them being only out at night or being further away, like n a cave or on agora shore. So, it's perfectly safe to walk around the area of Anti-air battery one during the daytime with no threat from monsters. (Unless you do something stupid like poke them with a stick) I also think the kids know not to bother the wildlife, considering Fiora and Rey grew up here, and Shulk is not stupid.**

 **Fourth, I like to think learning to swim is pretty important for people in Colony 9, considering the whole town is more or less surrounded by water, so I don't think there's any risk of drowning either.**

 **I think that's pretty much it. Thanks for reading and once again, please take a few seconds of your time to leave a review. It would be very appreciated.**


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